Children with asthma often have symptoms at school, so and it is very important to get the school involved in caring for your child's asthma. This is true even if your child has only a mild case of asthma, or if your child does not need to take asthma medicines when they are at school.
Most schools have several children with asthma, and so many teachers and certainly the school nurses are very familiar with helping children with asthma. Still, it is important to take steps to ensure that your child gets receives adequate attention and that all the relevant school personnel are familiar with what is needed to help your child.
You can look at this in two ways: there are things you need to do to prevent your child from getting having an asthma attack asthma at school and there are things you need to do to make sure that your child gets the right treatment if an a asthma attack occurs at school.
What should I do at school to prevent my child from getting asthma?
The most important thing is to talk to your child and, depending on how old your child is, explain as much about the disease that the child will understand. Ideally, your child should also keep track of when it is time to take the medicine, how to use the inhaler properly, how to use a peak flow meter, what the number on the peak flow means and what to do if that number is too low.
School officials should know about your child's asthma, including: how severe it is, what the triggers are, what medications to use and how to properly give them, how to use the peak flow meter and what to do in case of an asthma attack are all important issues to address..
All of these things should be written up and a list should be distributed to every school official who may be caring for your child. If possible, you should try to arrange a meeting with the school officials and explain the triggers, severity, symptoms and treatment of your child's asthma.
You should look at your child's classroom and other areas where he or she goes in school to see if there are any triggers. If you identify possible triggers for your child's asthma (dust mites and dust are common triggers in a classroom), you should work with the teacher to reduce your child's exposure to these triggers.
It is very important to provide all the medicines that your child needs to the school nurse along with the proper instructions. Remember that for some medicines, like inhalers, there is often no way to tell whether the inhaler still has medicine or not. You need to keep track of this and replace the medicines at school on a regular basis.
Finally, it is important to check every few months or so that the school is taking care of your child's asthma and that everybody is still on the same page.
As many teachers and other adults at school who know about your child's asthma, the better. Your child could have asthma while in art or music class or when in the hallway- these are places where the class teacher may not be present.
Here is a list of people at school who must be involved:
- Class teacher - This is the adult who is most likely to be around if your child has asthma at school. The more the class teacher knows and the more vigilant he/she is, the better the chances that your child will be properly helped. Sometimes, kids who have difficulty breathing do not perform as well in school, even though they do not have asthma attacks. The class teacher should look out for this.
- School nurse - You must talk to the school nurse and get an idea of what the school policies are. If your school shares a school nurse with other schools, make an appointment to see the nurse when she is in the school and find out who will be in charge when the nurse is not around.
- Art teacher, music teacher - Or any other teacher who regularly spends time with your child.
- Physical education teacher - The PE teacher has a special responsibility. In addition to spending time with your child like other teachers, the PE teacher should keep an extra eye on your kid child when he/she is exercising, since exercise can trigger asthma. Also, you should make sure that your child is not being left out because he or she has asthma. and the PE teacher should encourage your child to participate as long as the asthma is under control.
- Office staff, principal
- Counselor - This is an important person to talk to, especially if your child has other problems such as learning problems or problems dealing with other kids.
- Substitute teachers - You should try to talk to substitute teachers yourself. The regular teachers should also inform know that substitute teachers need to know about your child's condition. This is where a written set of instructions from you can be particularly valuable.
What emergency instructions should I give the school?
You should give the school officials a peak flow meter if possible. They should have a clear set of instructions (your doctor can help with this) about what is a low peak flow reading, what symptoms they should look out for and what treatment they should give. The school should have a clear idea of when to call your doctor and when to call 911. You should make sure that the instruction sheet you hand out to all school officials has your doctor's phone number, your preferred hospital (emergency room), as well as contact numbers for you, other guardians for the child and a trusted friend.
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This information is provided by the Cleveland Clinic and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition. This document was last reviewed on: 9/30/2006
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